MINNEAPOLIS – An array of injuries was largely responsible for the blight on the first five years of Byron Buxton’s still-promising Major League Baseball career, with surgery last fall to repair labrum damage in his left shoulder serving as the latest setback.
The most games he can get in this year for the Minnesota Twins? Sixty.
Such a milestone – even 50 games for the fleet-footed center fielder – would be a welcome development in this coronavirus pandemic-shrunken season.
Buxton, who had the procedure on Sept. 10, worked his way onto a rehabilitation track that would have had him ready for the original opener on March 26. Four extra months to heal and train sure didn’t hurt.
“I’ve got no limit. I’m back to being myself and going out and playing the game the right way,” Buxton said Wednesday, before the Twins played their first intrasquad game at Target Field, 16 days before they play the White Sox in Chicago to start the 2020 sprint.